


Gales of November, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Romance, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-01-18
Updated: 2002-01-18
Packaged: 2019-05-15 07:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14786567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Josh is proving himself once again the master politician but none of it may be enough to undo the major mistake he's made in his personal life.





	1. Gales of November, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

As always these characters do not belong to me but to the Producers, Writers, Actors and Broadcasters of the West Wing. I promise to return them in good condition. So something a little different, hopefully it works. I realize parts of this diverge wildly from what's going on in the series. In part of I have chosen to ignore some of the actual time -line, in part it's due to the fact that I am living in the Southern Hemisphere and we won't get season three 'til at least February or March. So spoilers cover the first two seasons but I'm not really expecting that to bother anybody. Feedback is not only welcomed but also desired. Re-posting is fine just let me know where. Title is from "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" Thanks as always for taking the time to read my work-B.G.

The Gales of November - Part 1  
By the Bondi Gargoyle 

From the hallway I could already hear CJ.  
"Where the hell is Josh?"  
"I don't know, CJ, he's due back sometime this morning."  
"Due back? He's still in California?"  
"He's somewhere between here and California."  
"Well, Donna, you need to find him now!"  
"Hey," I called out, stepping into the bullpen, "nobody gets to yell at her except me."  
"CJ's looking for you," Donna informed me with a slight smile  
"No kidding? Thanks." I grinned at her, tossing my coat and backpack her way. Then I noticed that Garret McHugh was sitting on her desk, I have to say at that point my grin faded.  
"I need to talk to you now!" CJ was very close to losing it.  
"All right lets go to your office." I pointed across the bull-pen. I was pretty sure what was coming and I didn't feel much like discussing it in front of McHugh.  
"Don't you have a house to be building?" I asked, walking past him.  
"Good morning to you too." He had that slightly knowing, smug look that he often regards me with. That look is just one reason that I dislike him. The fact that he struck me out twice last Fourth of July is another.

"Doesn't it strike you as really early for him to be here?" I asked CJ, closing her door behind me. "I mean its only seven-thirty. Nothing happens at HUD that would warrant being up and dressed this early."  
"He's probably dropping Donna off," CJ said, her mind quite clearly on other things.  
"See, CJ, I could have come to that conclusion on my own. I was kind of avoiding it and as my friend I expect you to do likewise."  
"Josh, shut up!" CJ finally yelled.  
"Okay what's got you so wound up?"  
"We're going to take a hit."  
"If this is about what Joey said to the Chronicle-"  
"No, it's..." CJ stopped and frowned at me. "What did Joey say to the Chronicle?"  
"That the government doesn't do enough for California's hidden poor."  
"She said 'the government', nothing more specific?"  
"No."  
"Well that's unlikely to be laid directly at our doorstep."  
"Except that she's married to the Deputy Chief of Staff which pretty much shoves her right past the doorstep and in our front door."  
"I should be so lucky that the top story today will be that your wife made some ambiguous, if critical, statements in an area where we are quite strong."  
"What are we going to take a hit on?" Now I was starting to get wound up and my week was already lousy.  
"Hoynes."  
"Oh what did the 'Texas two step' do this time?"  
"He invited Danny to go jogging this morning."  
"Better him than me." I leaned against the arm of CJ's couch.  
"Hoynes is pulling himself off the ticket."  
That brought me back to my feet.  
"He told Danny this?"  
"More or less. Danny told me as a favor and out of fondness for this administration but Josh we're going to owe him."  
"That's fine, I'm quite willing to barter with Danny for whatever he wants. Hoynes said he's not running? Well we can deal with that, personal reasons, health issues-"  
"He's running, Josh. He's running for the Senate."  
"Say what?"  
"Gruber's seat."  
"I thought Pagoyan was running for Gruber's seat?"  
"Well apparently Hoynes is going after it, too. He's going to run, and I'd say he's going to be distancing himself from this administration."  
"Well he's doesn't have far to go. And the Texas primary is still months away, he'll get better numbers than Pagoyan can even dream of." I sighed, rubbing my jaw "He told Danny this morning?"  
"About thirty minutes ago"  
"Anyone else got it?"  
"Don't know yet."  
"Okay, I'll go tell Leo and we'll wake up the President. Find out what you can and update Toby and Sam."  
CJ nodded in agreement.  
"Well this has been an exceptionally good Monday. So far, my wife's attacked our domestic policy, my former boss's defected to the legislature, all I need is for my mother to hold a press conference denouncing our stance on China and I'll have the hat-trick."  
"Were things a little rough with Joey?" CJ asked sympathetically. Claudia Jean has an amazing ability, even in crisis mode, to keep one corner of her brain free and clear for her friends.  
"You could say that."  
"It's your first year, Josh, there's bound to be a few bumps."  
"Well these ones are starting to feel like the Rocky Mountains"  
"Oh I'm sure they're no worse than the Appalachians."  
"Thanks."  
"Hey, Josh," CJ called after me as I started toward Leo's office, "Your mother's not likely to start giving press conferences is she? I know she's a department head at U.Conn."  
"They're unlikely to ask her about China, she's the head of the Physics Department."  
"That's why you're so sensitive about that."  
"You want to see sensitive, call my mother a psychic."

But at least, as I headed to my boss's lair, I was almost smiling. I also noticed that Garret McHugh had vacated my general vicinity, which further improved my day. Thing was, I should have liked Garret, or 'Gar' as everyone seemed to constantly call him, and at first I did. He is a near brilliant policy specialist and the help he gave us on housing was invaluable. Unfortunately, then he started dating Donna. And given that this was not the first time that he'd been in my office and not his own before eight in the morning, I don't think they were going out for ice-cream sodas. In a perfect world I wouldn't have cared. In a perfect world I would have recognized that Garret McHugh is a nice guy and that Donna was long overdue to have a nice guy in her life. In a perfect world the fact that I was wearing a gold band on the ring finger of my left hand would have canceled out any interest I might have had in who Donna was sleeping with. And in a perfect world riding the Metro to work would be as entertaining as the roller coaster on the Santa Cruz boardwalk. In my world the Metro is tedious, I didn't know how long I'd be wearing that ring and if Donna had known how many letters I'd drafted to the HUD secretary to have McHugh transferred, she'd have killed me with her bare hands.

I was having a lousy day and I figured everyone else might as well join me, so I briefed Leo and together we briefed the President. By the time the morning staff meeting rolled around, the big guy had a full head of steam going.

"He's doing this a week before the New Hampshire Primary?" he growled, "This idea just came to him?"  
"The Governors' Conference," Toby said. "He's the lunch time speaker today. You're keynote tonight."  
"You think he's going to declare over lunch?" Leo regarded our Communications director skeptically  
"In this case, yes," I replied. "Hit and run. Look he took Danny jogging; he's starting a buzz today for some reason. I think this is it."  
"It could be worse," Sam offered, "At least he's not running against us."  
"Yes he is," I interjected. "He's looking at 2006 and more or less declaring that he'd do better on his own than coming out of the Bartlet administration."  
From beside me CJ asked, "What do you want me to tell the press?"  
"Standard answer," Toby instructed. "The President will be sad to loose Hoynes as his VP but looks forward to working with him in the Senate and we offer him our support and best wishes."  
"That's going to look pretty wishy -washy."  
"Well you know what I'd like to say, " Toby retorted, his temper failing him. "I'd like to say that we think Hoynes is a self-serving, oil-licking mole with small genitalia and if he beats Pagoyan in the primary, the President will be endorsing the Republican candidate because we'd rather face a hostile Senate than one with John Hoynes in it."   
"Go with the first one," I told CJ.  
"Gee, thanks for clearing that up, Sparky"  
Leo looked at me. "Perhaps we should start out by confirming with Hoynes that this is actually going down."  
"Who do you trust more, Danny or Hoynes?" the President inquired  
"Danny," Leo replied without hesitation, "but we're doing it this way all the same. Josh, go see him."  
"Maybe somebody else should go see the turncoat. I can't promise that I won't deck him."  
"Well you're the one among us he hates least, so you get to go."

Hoynes offered to take me along on his afternoon run. At that point I took the phone away from Donna and told whichever aide was on the other end that, in light of recent events, Hoynes would damn well talk to me in an office, his or mine, like civilized men, because the way I was feeling at the moment, the minute my tie came off, the gloves were going with it.

After I'd hung up I went and found Toby.  
"What if we went with your answer?" I asked him.  
"I think the party leadership would prefer that we didn't actually make statements about endorsing the opposition."  
"Not that part. What if we cut Hoynes loose before he can do it himself?"  
"When are you seeing him?"  
"In ten minutes"  
"CJ's next briefing starts in ten minutes. How convenient."  
"He's not going to wait 'til lunch, we're going to get ambushed now."  
"Ya think?"  
"So let's turn the tables on him"  
"What do you have in mind?"  


Hoynes greeted us with an outstretched hand and a campaign smile. I ignored both of them.  
"So what's up Josh, Toby?"  
"Well," I began, "Mr. Vice-President or should I say Senator...?"  
"You heard?"  
"We should have heard it from you. We shouldn't have gotten this from a press leak. You owe us that much."  
"I don't owe you a gawd damn thing. You used me to get the South and since then you've used me as a trained monkey to take the photo -ops the President can't be bothered with. I used to be regarded as a great politician. These days I'm Bartlet's boy."  
"You are the Vice-President of the United States. You hold the second most powerful job in the country."  
"Leo McGarry holds the second most powerful job in the country and we all know it."  
"We could have gone to someone else."  
"You would have lost."  
"There's no proof of that, guess we should touch base again in November. For now, I need to know if, when you announce your intention to seek the Senate, you'll being making a statement in support of the President."  
"Of course."  
"A strong statement of support?"  
"I'll offer my support."  
"But not so much as to countermand the fact that his V.-P. no longer wants to share the ticket?"  
Hoynes gave a brief shrug  
"He's a good man, Mr. Vice -President, in fact he's a great man. You shouldn't do this, it will reflect badly on you in the end."  
"You have blinders on, Joshua, and they're going to last until the first Wednesday in November. But don't worry; I've always liked you. Come November, I'll consider taking you on. You too, Toby"  
"I'd rather flip burgers," Toby retorted as his phone began to ring.  
"As long as you've got your plans worked out."  
Toby took his phone out and answered it. He glanced at me and I gave him the slightest of nods.  
"Go ahead," Toby said into the phone, then hung up. He turned to me "CJ's briefing is about to start. I'd like to see it."  
"Well, Toby, anything for you," Hoynes said sarcastically, picking up a remote and turning on the set in his office.   
CJ walked calmly to the podium, sorted her notes looked up and smiled.  
"Bon Soir, Sportsif!" she declared cheerfully "That's just a little nod to Canadian Prime Minister Carolyn Pelltier who I'm told is a big Montreal Canadiens fan. The P.M. wrapped up meetings here yesterday on energy, environmental and defense issues."  
"CJ, you do know its not evening right?" Danny pointed out  
"Yeah, Danny, I figured the sun shining was a good tip. But they don't play NHL games at ten a.m. so Quebecois broadcasters rarely begin the game with 'Bon Jour Sportsif'."  
"Actually I was just curious to see if you could say good morning in French."  
CJ gazed out at her press corps.  
"I know you've all heard mutterings so rather than me giving you details of the new Pacific Salmon accord with Canada, why don't we jump ahead to the cabinet re-shuffle. Yes it's true, we will be looking at some re-arranging; primarily the President has begun to consider several candidates as a new running mate. He'll be taking some meetings on that issue at the Governors' Conference and no I won't tell you who's on the shortlist 'til it's down to one person."  
"Is Vice-President Hoynes on that list?" Steve called out  
"Nope."  
Katie leapt in, "Why not?"  
"All good things must come to an end."   
"CJ!" About a dozen hands went up.  
"Look there's been no fight, no scandal, Guys. It's an amicable mutual break-up. This administration wishes John Hoynes success in whatever his future plans hold and will always consider him a friend."  
"CJ, is it true Hoynes will be seeking a Senate seat?" Danny fed CJ the question he already knew the answer to.  
"You'll have to ask the Vice-President's office what his plans will be. So now that we've talked about that elephant, lets talk about Canadian fish."  
"CJ can you say fish in French?" queried Danny, cheerfully.

The Vice-President was white with anger when he turned toward us.  
" What did you think we were going to do? Let you run the table? You wanted off the ticket. Congratulations you're off the ticket," I said, staring him down.  
"The party leadership is not going to stand for this kind of game playing. Ellen!" he hollered to his secretary. "Get me Hilton Reesce!"  
"Reesce has pneumonia," Toby reminded Hoynes calmly. "Sean Kieran's the acting Minority Leader in the Senate."  
That brought Hoynes up short. He and Kieran hated each other. Not that Kieran was a big fan of ours but Toby and I knew that he'd back the President over Hoynes, if for no other reason than Kieran was also a graduate of Notre Dame. Calling the leader of the Democrats in the House, Jess Jefferson, was equally pointless; she was a long time Bartlet supporter, going back to the first campaign.   
As with the President, you're supposed to wait until you're dismissed before leaving the V.-P.'s presence, but I was damned if I was asking Hoynes for anything ever again. Without a word Toby and I left the room.  


That evening there was an e-mail waiting from Joey. Two words: "Still mad?"  
I picked up the phone and called her. Obviously we don't have these discussions through Kenny. Usually what we do is use the computer and phone simultaneously. We could probably just use the computer but I like the sound of her voice.  
"I'm not mad anymore," I typed.  
"No, you're too revved up from firing Hoynes to be mad at me," she said, half-laughing.  
"Could you try though, not to make to many more statements attacking my boss?"  
"I never attacked the President."  
"Come on, Joey, you've got how many degrees? If use non-specific terms like 'government', our relationship is going to put you on the front page. Or is that what you wanted?"  
"For a guy who's not mad anymore you do a passable imitation."  
"I'm sorry."  
"As a matter of fact, Joshua, while I wasn't misquoted, the statement was taken out of context. The line was in the middle of a discussion on the voting record of my opponent. If you'd heard the whole thing, it would have been quite clear that I was talking about Congressional response to the problem."  
"Why didn't you tell me that this morning?"  
"Cause you don't get to boss me around. You come home and you forget that here, you're not the White House D.C.S. I expect you to give me the benefit of the doubt for not being a complete idiot, and apart from anything else not attacking an administration from my own party lest the D.N.C. cut off my funding. You guys have been known to do that from time to time."  
"The President's not going to cut off your funding, he likes you too much."  
"I'm not married to the President and neither, and this may come as a shock, neither, Joshua, are you."  
I sighed. She was right; I'd been out of line.  
"I love you," I typed.  
"Think that's going to get you off the hook?"  
"You can't see how contrite I look. It's the best I can do."  
"Okay, apology accepted."  
"Thank you."  
"What's happening with Hoynes?"  
I filled her in on the basic details.

"... With Kieran and Jefferson backing us up, he had no choice but to fall into step. He announced that he'll seek the Senate seat but it looked like a response to us taking him off the ticket."  
"How much will it cost you?"  
"It'll cost us Texas."  
"You never had Texas."  
"So no big loss. He plays well to the mid-American housewife with his Hollywood smile but hopefully it's long enough until the actual election that they'll have forgotten this slight."  
"Gillette plays well on TV."  
"We're not putting Gillette on the ticket."  
"Why not?"  
"Well for a start, Toby has to employ trickery to get him on a committee. You think I'm going to get him onto the ticket?"  
"This has become your job, has it?"  
"Lucky me."  
"How come?"  
"Cause I'm there. Wanna be the Vice-President?"  
"I'd prefer a job with some power and influence, like freshman congresswoman."  
"Shouldn't that be freshwoman congresswoman?"  
"Yeah whatever. You're looking at the Governors?"  
"Joey, currently I'm looking at the guy who dry cleans my suits."  
"Donna deals with your dry cleaning."   
"And I've prepared a brief survey for her to give him. Hey its Washington, everyone has an opinion."  
"And some of you have ones to spare."  
"I thought I was forgiven"  
"Oh yeah"  
"I wish you were here," I told her.  
"Me too. But you guys are coming to California in six weeks."  
"I don't know if I am."  
"Josh."  
"I have to find a running mate, I'm not sure I can spare three days to go to California"  
"Josh!"  
"Look I'm skipping the Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Florida trips in the vain hope that I can work this out in under six weeks, for many reasons, the re-election campaign being just one but at this point I can't make any promises. Why don't you come here?"  
"Because I'm in the middle of a campaign."  
"And I'm not?"

  


	2. Gales of November, The 2

 

Disclaimers in Part 1  
The Gales of November :Part 2  
By The Bondi Gargoyle

  


"Because I'm in the middle of a campaign."  
"And I'm not?"

That's pretty much where we ended it. I lay down on the bed without even undressing. I took of my tie and my shoes but then just laid there, spread eagle. I thought that when I got married, I might get out of the habit of sleeping in my clothes. I think I had this fantasy that there would be someone who would nudge me awake and gently encourage me to finish getting undressed, or at the very least toss a blanket over me. Lying there, all that seemed very separate to Joey and I. Toby, Leo and I brought Joey to Washington in August of our third year, to advise us full time as we tried to figure out how exactly to get the President re-elected in the face of the whole M.S. thing. Once she and I were finally in the same city for more than two and half weeks, one of us finally asked the other out. Yes, for those of you who feel details are important, Joey asked me out. Our relationship meandered along quite happily as these things do, dinner, sex, and seven-hour strategy meetings.  


Then came Thanksgiving. My Mom was in Oregon visiting some old friend and Joey's parents had gone to London to see her brother, so Joey and I were on our own (thanks to some well placed lies to the President). We were sitting around my apartment trying to figure out how to kill the four days when I jokingly said, "We could fly to Vegas and get married" and Joey agreed. I think we were both kind of waiting for the other to call it off but neither of us did. Which was fine, it was great, Joey's an amazing woman and I considered myself lucky to have her. I just wished that I felt a little more confident that she harbored similar feelings toward me. Anyway we came back from Thanksgiving in a state of holy matrimony.

Leo had stared at me the next Monday morning for most of the staff meeting.  
"You look different," he said once we were in his office "Did you get a haircut or something?"  
"I got married."  
"Very funny."  
He stopped laughing when I held up my left hand  
"To who?"  
"Joey. Who do you think I married?"  
"I'll be damned."   
Two hours later he sought me out and remembered to add 'Congratulations'.  


Telling Leo had been relatively easy; telling Donna was less so. I couldn't even explain why. Nevertheless I felt hesitant like I was admitting that I'd cheated on our relationship. I made her come in and shut the door.  
"I've got something to tell you."   
I must have looked quite troubled because she looked extremely worried and half-whispered, "Has something else happened?"  
Realizing she thought it was about the campaign or the President I shook my head and smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring way.  
"No, no nothing like that"  
Donna let out a long sigh "Thank God."  
"I'm married"  
"Since when?"  
"Day before yesterday. Joey and I got married in Vegas."  
"I see."  
"Donna?"  
"Well, congratulations."  
"What's wrong?"  
When I had related the conversation to Joey that night, she shook her head in disbelief "What did you think she was going to say?"   
"What did you think she was going to say?"  
"Not the truth."  
"Which is?"  
"That she has feelings for you, and that maybe she's not over the moon that you just got married to me"  
What Donna said however was, "You got married and you didn't invite me"  
"Donna we didn't invite anyone."  
"How long have you been planning this elopement?"  
"Planning? We didn't plan it, that's the point. Donna, if we'd had a big wedding, not only would I have invited you, I'd have wanted you to be in it. It's just not how Joey and I are. Can you imagine her in a ton of taffeta?"  
"Not really."  
" Look you're one of the first to know. The only other person I've told is Leo."  
"Really?"  
"Haven't even told Sam yet."  
That seemed to cheer her up.   
"Be nice to her for a couple days" Joey had further instructed me.  
"I'm always nice to her."  
"Real person nice, not nice for you"  
"Thanks a lot."  
"She's being a pretty good sport, Josh, and heaven knows where you'd be if she quit so just be nice to her"  
"She's not in love me. I mean I know she cares about me but it's a sisterly thing"  
"Yeah, whatever."  
"You're not jealous of Donna, are you?"  
"No."  
As far as I could see, she really wasn't. I have to admit that it bothered me. I would have expected my wife to be a trifle troubled by the idea that the other woman I spend most of my day with might harbour feelings for me. I would have hope that she'd want to hear that she had nothing of which to be jealous, but Joey didn't ask and I didn't volunteer it. Perhaps I should have.  


Either way, it wouldn't have changed what happened next. The second week of January, Joey was approached my members of the California Democratic Caucus and before I knew it, she was running for Congress for the 8th district. The thing is that if you run for a seat from California they kind of expect you to campaign in California. Suddenly I was once again sleeping by myself, fully clothed, on top of my bed.   


I woke up to another e-mail from Joey.  
"I love you. Consider Anne-Marie Mondre. Come to California when you can," it read.

"Donna get me everything you can find on Anne-Marie Mondre." I shouted as I walked into the bullpen that morning.  
"The governor of Tennessee?"  
" Okay, sure"  
I'm guessing I should have known that. But I don't do much business with governors and even less with the state of Tennessee.  
Roughly an hour later Donna dumped the first stack of papers on my desk, they kept coming for the rest of the day.

Around nine that night I asked for a meeting with senior staff.  
"What do you have Josh?"  
"Anne-Marie Mondre, Governor of Tennessee. She went to U.V.A. on a partial academic scholarship and opted for Navy R.O.T.C. Made the dean's list every semester. She attended Boalt law school and served out her commission in the J.A.G. corps. She then went on and did a public policy Ph.D. at Brandeis and worked for the V.A. until she ran for office. She served two terms in the House before successfully running for Governor, and that ain't easy when you're pro gun control in the South."  
"It ain't easy when you're pro gun control anywhere," Sam pointed out.  
"Also, and I hate to be the one saying this, but she's Black which wouldn't hurt us with that particular block of voters."  
Leo tapped the end of his glasses against his bottom lip, "I was think more along the lines of Sawyer."  
"Sawyer?" I repeated flatly. There I was thinking that I had walked in with the Holy Grail and he gave me Sawyer.  
"Josh, Sawyer's had a long and distinguished career in the Senate. He's reliable, people trust him."  
"People trust him because he never goes out on a limb on anything."  
"I think we're far enough out on a limb without help right now."  
I looked around the room for help and settled on Toby. "Look we lost the option to play it safe when our beloved leader admitted that he'd lied about a few key issues. If we're going to win this we're going to have to come out swinging. We're going to have to dazzle them. Let Bartlet be Bartlet."  
"Yeah that got us a long way," Toby muttered.  
I focused on CJ "What did we come here to do? We came to make a difference, so let's make one. Let's put someone like Mondre in office. Let's show the American public that we really came to lead. Not just to wear the mantle and drive around in the fancy cars. That's the only way we have any chance of not watching the next inauguration from the wrong side of the podium."  
CJ got that little glint in her eye and I knew that she was with me.  
"Sam?" Leo asked.  
"He's got a point. I'm not sure I agree with him but he's got a point"  
"Toby?"  
He gave a shrug and a half nod "She's Black, she's a vet, she's from the South, she has ties to both coasts, affiliations with a Jewish university, the legislature. It's a lot to walk away from, Leo"  
"Okay" Leo said finally "Put her on the short list, but I want to see Sawyer there too."

Over the next couple of weeks the short list grew and shrank 'til we were once again having the same discussion, Sawyer vs. Mondre, this time in the Oval Office.  
"Tell me what I don't want to hear," the President instructed once I'd concluded my spiel  
"Hoynes, with recent obvious exceptions, more or less did what he was told. Anne-Marie Mondre isn't going to let us bully her in the same way. That said, she stands closer to us in the first place."  
"Anything else?"  
"There exists the question of does she want to give up being Governor for the chance to be Vice-President especially with us"  
"Why especially with us?" Bartlet demanded.  
"Due respect, Sir, people aren't currently knocking each other over to join our team."  
He scowled at me.  
"Which doesn't make them right," I continued hastily, "and they'll come back, caps in hand but until then I have to do a count almost daily to see who our friends are."  
The President nodded, it wasn't a pleasant reality but there it was.  
"Is Sawyer still our friend?"  
"Well he isn't calling for impeachment," Toby volunteered  
"Why is it always you who makes those comments?" our leader queried momentarily distracted  
"Cause Josh and Sam are too chicken and CJ's too polite"  
"Ah. Okay Josh, why not Sawyer?"  
"'Cause putting Sawyer on the ticket looks like we're trying to re-assure the voters. It's like we're saying don't worry if the President gets sick and is unable to fulfill his duties, we've given you a nice safe alternative. That's not the message we should be sending."  
It was possibly the smartest thing I'd said all night  
"So let's have a little straw poll," suggested our esteemed leader, "Mondre versus Sawyer. We know how Josh votes. Toby?"  
"Mondre"  
"CJ?"  
"Mondre"  
The President nodded thoughtfully. "Sam?"  
"Isn't there a possibility for someone between Sawyer and Mondre?"  
"Sam!" CJ, Toby and I groaned in unison.  
"What about Bucknell?"  
"No!" the President declared emphatically  
"Sir, I know he's opposed some of your economic policies in the past but-"  
"Sam, have you read the latest issue of 'The Economist', he opposed all of my economic policies as recently as last week"  
"What about Dexter?" Sam asked, continuing to assert his inability to play well with others.   
"Sam, don't know if you noticed but Dexter's a Republican."  
"A moderate Republican, Josh"  
"He still gets his funding from the G.O.P."  
"It would be ground breaking"  
"And the first ground we would break would be in New Hampshire for the President's retirement home. I have looked at every angle, it comes down to this Mondre or Sawyer."  
He shrugged "Okay then, Mondre"  
"Leo?" the President looked at our Chief. Whatever the rest of us said, it was this vote that would really matter.  
"Josh is right, we want a V.-P. who looks like a decent leader in the event something should happen; Sawyer will look like we're planning for the worst. I'll go with Mondre"  
"Okay, Josh start planning a trip to Tennessee. Right, what's next?"

"So you made it," Joey said smiling as she got back into bed.  
I had indeed made it to California for the campaign stop. Truth was, I should have stayed in Washington and prepped for the trip to Nashville but I justified it with a desire to pick Joey's brain. Besides Donna, like Margaret, sulks every time we skip somewhere warm and sunny. However, it had rained constantly since the plane had touched down and since my arrival at Joey's Alameda townhouse we hadn't exactly been discussing politics. We hadn't been discussing much of anything. There had been a lot of kissing and...other stuff but not much in the way of politics. Interestingly it was Joey who broached the subject first.  
"Can I assume your presence here means you've selected a running mate?" she asked as she settled herself half against the pillows and half against my shoulder  
"Yes, though I haven't actually discussed it with the candidate yet."  
"Who?"  
"Mondre"  
"You took my advice." She looked pleased  
"Yeah, and now I need more of it. Talk to me about strategy. I need to convince this woman to hook her star to our rather shaky wagon."  
"You have to be honest with her. If you start getting too slick or too showy, she'll walk away."  
"Okay"  
"She knows what's going on. Be up front about what you need from her. Then go into what you can offer."  
"A broader arena for her agenda"  
"Yes but you, Leo and the President have to be clear, she'll want a longer leash than you ever gave Hoynes"  
"I know, I explained that to them."  
"You'll be fine, when do you see her?"  
"Donna and I fly to Nashville tomorrow."  
"You'll be fine"  
"I hope so."  
"You're Josh Lyman, master politician. What could go wrong?"

Yes indeed, what could go wrong? Those words were ringing in my ear like the toll of midnight to a condemned man as I stood outside Governor Mondre's office for the second time in two days. We had gone straight to the Statehouse from the airport, where I had presented my case for over an hour. I had done the best sell I'd ever attempted and she'd looked at me and said she'd consider it. I tried to play hard ball and suggest that it didn't work like that; at which point the Governor had told me that she didn't care who I thought I worked for, I was in Tennessee now and it was her home court (did I mention she played in the women's NCAA championship). If I wanted an answer in person I could stick around overnight, but I wasn't getting it any earlier. So Donna and I had spent the night listening to 'open mic' night, at some club that was a long way from the Grand Ol' Opry.

"Mr. Lyman, the Governor's ready for you"  
"Thank you"  
I followed Anne-Marie Mondre's secretary into the plush office. It took me a full minute to realize that the Governor had started speaking. I forced myself to focus on her  
"Mr. Lyman I don't feel as though I have your full attention."  
"You don't," I admitted  
"Excuse me?"  
"Governor, forgive me, I very much want you to share the ticket in this election. I am however currently dealing with a small personal crisis and-"  
"Is your wife okay?"  
"My wife?" I croaked. "Do you know my wife?"  
I'd never thought to ask Joey how she came up with Mondre's name. It was entirely possible that they knew each other.  
"No, but you're wearing a wedding band"  
"My wife's fine. I just need to...no, forget it. Governor, have you come to any conclusions about our offer?"  
Governor Mondre looked me up and down very carefully.  
"It's rare for me to change my mind," she said finally. "I don't make major decisions lightly and when I've reached a decision, I usually stick to it."  
"Yes, Ma'am." I nodded, unsure whether this was good or bad news.  
"I was planning on telling you 'no'."  
I started to speak but she held up a hand for silence  
"I was going to tell you 'no', but I think I might just be about to change my mind."  
"Why?"   
"Something is obviously troubling you, Mr. Lyman, very deeply."  
"Yes, Ma'am"  
"When you came in here yesterday, you were very sure of yourself."  
"Ma'am, if I appeared arrogant, I apologize, I-"  
"You are used to getting your own way; you're used to having people listen when you speak. Why not, you're a smart guy? Right"  
"Right."  
This was exactly what Joey had warned me about. The thought made me even more depressed.  
"It's a way of doing things, but it's not my way of doing things."  
"No, Ma'am"  
"Now, Joshua Lyman, if you want me to join your administration why don't you tell me what your administration is about. The human side, not your agenda."  
"We make a lot of mistakes," I began slowly, "a lot of mistakes."  
She smiled knowingly.  
"But when we're not busy digging our own graves, we try to make decisions that we think will help people; ones that'll make it easier for people to stay healthy, and make a living and put their kids through college."  
She sat down and pointed to the opposite chair.  
"Leo wants to make government about statesmanship again. Toby would like to bring back the New Deal, and Sam's the idealist, who wants to right all past wrongs. CJ is the National Organization for Women's best cover girl in years, smashing the glass ceiling, with just about everything she says and everything she does."  
"And you?"  
"I just want to make Republicans cry."  
"Really?"  
"That and I want my kids, if I ever have any, to live in a world where people don't have to hide on shipboard containers or strap themselves to planks of wood to have a better life."  
"That's what I wanted to know."  
"And Ma'am for all those things that each of us is, our President is, only more so. We have made some big mistakes, and not telling the public about the President's M.S. was one of the biggest but when we actually manage to lead, I think we're the best chance the average American has had in decades. What's more, I think you would only serve to further strengthen that position. We want you, not because you'll bring us the South or the Black or women voters, but because of the positions you've taken, the bills you've voted for and the policies you've enacted. If in our previous discussions I've suggested anything else, I apologize."   
The Governor stood up from her chair and came around the desk. She held out her hand. "Joshua, I think you better call your boss."  
"You'll join the ticket?"  
"We're completely clear that I 'm not going to be the President's lap dog. I'm not going to bring you the Black voters or the South and then go back in my box."  
"Governor Mondre, if I was looking for a lap dog, I'd be in St Louis."  
"I hear Sawyer's measuring his collar as we speak."  
"It is possible, just possible, that Dan Sawyer is on the list, but I really don't want to go to the list."  
"Then shake my hand, Joshua, let's seal the deal."  
For one brief second I was elated; I'd done what I came to do. I couldn't wait to tell Joey. That thought brought me crashing back to earth.  
"You can expect a call from the President very shortly," I assured the Governor.  
"I look forward to it."  
"Thank you."  
I walked out of the office, out of the building, pulled out my cell phone and called Leo.   
"It's done."  
"It's done?"  
"A hundred percent."  
"You da man, Josh"   
"I'm really not."  
"But it's done?"  
"Yes."  
"Josh, are you okay?"  
"I'm fine, Leo, why wouldn't I be?"  
"Okay, I'll see you when you get back."  
"Yeah"

 


	3. Gales of November, The 3

 

Disclaimers in Part 1

The Gales of November :Part 3  
By The Bondi Gargoyle

"Josh, are you okay?"  
"I'm fine, Leo, why wouldn't I be?"  
"Okay, I'll see you when you get back."  
"Yeah"

Donna was waiting at the hotel. She looked about as happy as I did.  
"How did it go?"  
"She said yes, the President's calling her."  
"Good," Donna said flatly.  
"How are you?"  
She shrugged.  
"Josh, are you going to tell Joey?"  
"I have to"  
"Do you?"  
"I'm married to her, Donna, of course I have to tell her."

"I guess I have to tell Garrett." This came later as we sat waiting for take-off.  
"Not necessarily."  
"I do."  
"Yeah."  
The plane climbed into the air and reached cruising altitude before either one of us spoke again  
"Donna, you weren't thinking of quitting were you?"  
"I was considering it."  
"Don't. Please don't. Look it's a lousy situation but that'll just make it worse."  
"I'm thinking Garrett and Joey might disagree."  
"Forget them for a minute"  
"Haven't we done a little too much of that already?" she hissed  
"This is different. Donna, transfer inside the White House if you want but don't quit."  
"If I transfer, everyone's going to guess"  
"No."  
"They will, Josh. Besides..."  
"Besides what?"  
"I don't want to work for anyone else"  
"And I don't want you to go."  
" I guess I'll stay, for the time being anyway."  
"Thank you."  
She looked out the window for a long while. I flicked unseeing through the in-flight magazine  
"I thought it would feel different," Donna finally said quietly.  
"Yeah"  
"Didn't it seem like it would have been different between us? More...something?"  
"We were drunk."  
"Do you think that's the only reason?"  
"Only reason it happened, or only reason it didn't live up to our expectations?"  
"Both"   
"Maybe it wasn't what we thought it was."  
"Maybe."  
"Donna do you love Garrett?"  
"Yes" she said very softly and started to cry  
"Sorry, that was a stupid question" I put my arm around her shoulder  
"He's going to hate me, Josh"  
There weren't a lot of answers to that, she was probably right. So I just held her close and let her cry on my shoulder and wished Anne-Marie Mondre had been able to answer me in one day instead of two.

Leo, the President and the others gave me a standing ovation as I walked into the Oval Office. I wondered what their reaction would have been if they had known the whole truth, that I'd spent almost as much time in Nashville cheating on my wife as I had talking to the Governor. That if I hadn't been so freaked out by the reality of what I'd done, Mondre would have just dismissed me as one more arrogant, smart-ass white kid that's all together too fond of the sound of his own voice. 'What's the secret to your award-winning political strategy, Josh? Well, basically I screw up my personal life as much as humanly possible and then the pieces just fall into place.'  
But they didn't ask. They patted me on the back and told me I was a genius and started making plans for the announcement the next morning. The Governor was on a flight as we spoke and we were well poised to own the news cycle. I sat through it all and fought back the image of Joey's smile.

"You're very quiet," Toby observed as the meeting broke up. "What's up?"  
"I'm just tired," I shook my head and jogged to catch up with Leo.  
"I need to go to California," I told him.  
"When?"  
"Tomorrow morning"  
Leo stared at me. "You're kidding right?"  
"No."  
"Your candidate for Vice-President will be here, facing the press, tomorrow morning."  
"She's not my candidate Leo, she's our candidate. And I'm sure she's seen enough of me."  
"Did something happen in Tennessee, Josh?"  
"You could say that."  
"Something to do with Mondre?"  
"No. Leo, I need to go to California, I need to see my wife."  
"What did you do?"  
"Leo, I have never, never lied to you. Let's keep it that way."  
"Fine, I withdraw the question."  
"Can I go?"  
"What's going to happen if whatever you did hits the press?"  
"People are going to shake their heads and say 'typical politician'. "  
Leo looked at me with utter disappointment. "Go"

I landed in California and took a cab to the townhouse. Joey wasn't home but I hadn't expected her to be. For the next few hours I tried to read or watch TV as I waited for her. Mostly, though, I stared unseeing at the page or screen and tried to figure out what to tell my wife. The lights were on timers and they snapped on around six. I got up and went into the kitchen and thought about making some dinner but nothing in the fridge looked appealing. As I stood contemplating the contents, I heard the key turn in the lock.  
"Josh?" she must have seen my bag and backpack where I had left them in the front hall.  
I walked into the living room the same time Joey did. Upon seeing me her face lit up.  
"Hi! I didn't expect you to make it back so soon."  
She threw her arms around me, hugged and kissed me.  
"I saw the news," she signed and spoke together "You guys are up four points in the polls."  
"Finally. Thanks for your help with all of that."  
"What's wrong?" Joey craned to try and look in my eyes.  
I moved away, turning my back to her as I tried to gather the courage for what I'd come to do.  
Joey tapped my shoulder, trying to get me to face her. There was a hint of impatience as though I'd forgotten that she couldn't read my lips if I talked to the wall.  
"Josh?"  
I spun back around "Joey I've done something really...bad."  
"Mondre?"  
"No nothing to do with the campaign."  
She frowned "What?"  
'Deep breath, Lyman,' I told myself   
"When I was in Nashville, I... at the... the hotel...."   
"It's okay Josh, just tell me" Joey said her eyes rich with warmth and understanding.  
"It's not okay. I slept with Donna!" I blurted out.  
Joey's eyes darkened and hardened as she tried to figure out whether she'd read my lips correctly. I hadn't exactly learned the sign for adultery  
"You slept with Donna?"  
"Yes and I regret it, immensely. I-"  
"Get out" she said softly  
"Joey. I understand that-"  
"Get out!" she yelled it this time "You don't live here anymore. You don't belong here anymore. GET OUT!"   
I hadn't really been expecting anything different. I had hoped I might get in more of an explanation but it probably wouldn't have changed much. There wasn't a lot to explain. I was married and I'd had sex with a woman who wasn't my wife. No one had put a gun to my head, there were no justifiable extenuating circumstances, I had simply screwed up.

I gathered my things and took a cab back to the airport. In Washington I didn't feel much like going home, not that there were many reminders of Joey who had only actually lived in my apartment for little over a month. Since it was almost time for work anyway, I went to the West Wing. I sat in my chair and stared at my blackboard and tried to figure out how with one single mistake I'd managed to hurt the two women who meant most to me in the world. As I reviewed it all in my head, I tried to pinpoint the exact point where I should have acted differently. When I'd ordered the first drink? Or maybe it was the second? Riding up with Donna in the elevator wasn't particularly damning, though we were laughing more than we usually did in public. Leaning in to kiss her goodnight was stupid; kissing her on the lips instead of the cheek was more so. And from there it just went downhill too quickly to contemplate.  


"Back already?"  
I looked up to see Toby and his red rubber ball framed in my doorway. He tossed it to me.  
"Feel like telling me what's going on?"  
"Nope." I tossed it back.  
"It'll help to talk about it."  
"Unlikely. Besides when did you become responsible for pastoral care?"  
"I just get the feeling that you're about to join our club."  
"Whose club?"  
"Mine and Leo's."  
"Those who were born aged forty-five?"  
"You came back from Tennessee not whooping and bragging but barely able to meet anyone's eye. Rather than stay for your day of jubilee you hightailed it to California where you stayed for roughly eight hours and came back on the redeye to be sitting here in the same clothes you've worn for the last two days."  
"Maybe I wanted to share the whole day of jubilee thing with Joey, Mondre was her suggestion."  
"Then I think that somewhere along the line you would have changed your shirt. What happened in Tennessee, Josh?"  
"It's nothing that effects you or the campaign in any way."  
"I'm not asking as the White House Communications Director. I'm asking cause I can remember what it's like to prefer be in your office instead of your home." He glanced down at my suitcase. "Go down to the gym, take a shower, put on a fresh shirt. I'll buy you breakfast."  
"I'm not going to talk about this, Toby."  
"I know."  
The fact that I hadn't eaten since I'd put on that shirt was starting to catch up with me, so the offer of breakfast even with strings attached sounded good. As I moved past Toby, the oddest thing happened, he didn't quite hug me but he put his hand on the back of my neck and said, "Josh, it's going to get worse before it gets better but time heals almost everything"  
"But not quite?"  
"No, not quite"  


Two weeks later, Sam was leaning in the doorway of my office staring out at the bullpen when the next minefield opened up.  
"I heard Donna broke up with Gar," he commented.  
"So?" I said, trying to sound uninterested and gage where he was going at the same time.  
"So I was thinking about asking her out."  
'Do not react!' my brain screamed at the rest of me  
"You have a girlfriend," I pointed out. "The other blond woman, remember her?"  
"Ainsley's not speaking to me"  
'Join the club'  
"Why not?"  
"Because she wants the Republican Party to win and I want us to win."  
"You didn't think that might come up at some point when you started this whole thing?"  
"When I started this whole thing, I was thinking about what she'd look like naked. I wasn't considering the long term impacts of bipartisanship."  
"There are days when I wish that I'd left you in New York."  
"So what do you think? Should I ask Donna out?"  
"Why don't you let the whole Garret thing settle for a while?"  
"I was going to ask her out earlier but I wasn't sure that you didn't, that you weren't..."  
"That I wasn't what?"  
"That you weren't putting in a little overtime together"  
"Sam, please get out of my office before I have to beat you to death with a stapler."  
"But by the time you married Joey and I realized that Donna was free and clear, Gar was around, Ainsley was around."  
"I swear, I'm going to make you the advance man for the Alaskan Christmas trip if you don't go away."  
Sam laughed, "So what do you think, give her a week?"  
"I'd say two."  
"Split the difference, let's say ten days"  
"If I agree will you go away?"  
Fortunately, at that point he went. I got up and looked out at the bullpen. Donna was working at the computer, completely unaware of her potential fate. I knew what I had to do. It was time to venture into the lion's den.  
"Donna I'm going to lunch" I called  
"It's ten in the morning."  
"Brunch, I'm going to brunch"  
She shot me a look that suggested the only place I was going was out of my mind and nodded.

I barged into Garret McHugh's office uninvited. His first words to me don't really need to be repeated but if you're desperate to hear them cut off any New York taxi in rush-hour traffic. Actually it was a warmer welcome than I'd been expecting. I'd expected that the security guards in the lobby of HUD's offices had been shown my picture and ordered to shoot to kill, but perhaps Garret doesn't have quite that kind of power.  
"You have to make up with Donna," I told him.  
He told me...well you can guess what he told me to do to myself. I'm almost getting used to it, it's become the standard reply to any e-mail I send Joey.  
"Yeah, believe me, McHugh I pretty much have. But neither you nor Donna needs to follow suit. So patch things up"  
"Donna got what she wanted."  
"Donna got what she thought she wanted about two years ago, Garrett, not what she wants now."  
"She's always had a thing for you, I was at best a substitute"  
"No, she genuinely likes you. This stuff between us was just left over. It was something we both thought we wanted and in actual fact neither of us did."  
"Right, so you had your fun and now it's over and she can just get screwed huh?" he asked vehemently. I'd forgotten how tall Garrett McHugh is until he was standing over me. But even as I tried to figure out how hard he could hit me, I saw a glimmer of hope; in spite of it all, he was still protecting Donna.  
"You want to kill me, I understand that. Right now you might have to take a number, the line starts behind my wife. But prior to, or in addition to that, I think you should fix things with Donna."  
"Why?"  
"Because you two had a good thing going and I hate to see it falling apart."  
"You couldn't have had that thought shortly before going to bed with my girl-friend? You are so full of it, Man, it's coming out your ears."  
"Okay I feel guilty and if you were to get back together I would feel less guilty."  
"Well that's closer to the truth. First time I met you, Lyman, when I was helping you guys with the policy for the Mid-west, you thought I was the next golden boy. Then I asked Donna out and you couldn't manage to say good-morning without glowering. You wanted what I had and so you took it."  
"That's not what happened, Garrett."  
"Then you tell me what happened"  
I remembered a not too distant past when I used to be able to control conversations, shape them to my will. That talent seemed to have evaporated.   
"We made a mistake, Garrett and you and my wife got caught in the fallout and I'm sorry. I suspect that in the end, it will cost me my marriage, which, this being mostly my fault I deserve. I would really like it, though, if Donna didn't have to pay quite as high a penalty."  
"How is it more your fault then hers?"  
'Isn't this guy supposed to be a policy analyst not a trial lawyer?' I thought to myself.  
Humility, or as close as I come to it wasn't getting me very far, it was time to go back to the common Lyman.  
"Tell you what Garrett, maybe we're equally to blame, cause neither one of us put the brakes on. But isn't it slightly easier to stomach when it's all my fault?"  
Amazingly, for a moment that shut him up.  
"Stop worrying about motivation," I lectured him, " you're not directing a play. Worry about fixing it. And if you're wondering why I'm here, yes I care about Donna. And no I haven't been wild about her dating you. But that's all about me and ultimately none of that should have anything to do with what happens between you and her."  
"Are you in love with her?" he asked guardedly  
"No, but you are"  
"Not any more"  
"Bull. You still love her and you never stopped being her first choice. And now you better do something about it"  
"Why now, in particular?" Caution gave way to suspicion. "Why weren't you bursting into my office yesterday?"  
"Because Sam's about to ask her out."  
"Sam Seabourne?" Garrett frowned, "I thought he was your best friend."  
"He is."  
"But you don't want him dating Donna?"  
"Absolutely not."  
"Too close to home?"  
I shook my head. I finally realize that not everything's about me and I can't seem to convince anyone else of the fact.  
"Did you ever have a friend, a great guy, one of those guys who always knew where his Dad kept the playboys and the keys to the liquor cabinet? You know the guy I mean, the life of every party, he'd land the head cheer leader then tell you about it in full detail."  
Garrett nodded cautiously  
"You wouldn't want to go through life without him right? But at the same time there's not a T-bone's chance at a dogfight that you'd let him date your sister."  
"Sam Seabourne?"  
"Sam Seabourne. Garrett, call her. Go see her. She made a mistake, led mostly by me but everyone makes mistakes. I know she deeply regrets what happened."  
I turned to leave  
"One more thing, Josh" Garrett said, his tone almost friendly.  
I turned back around and he punched me, hard, in the stomach. I doubled over in pain  
"You are a sonuvabitch," he whispered.  
"Yes," I wheezed agreeably.  
He pushed me into a chair, and then opened his door. "Catherine, could you bring Mr. Lyman a glass of water?"  
He waited until she'd brought it, then came back to stand in front of me. He handed me the glass and offered his other hand.  
"That's what it felt like when Donna told me that she'd slept with you. So now we're even."  
"Okay" I eyed him, not sure that I trusted his rugby field sense of justice but not wanting to provoke him further, I shook his hand.   
"Sip that slowly. Sit there 'til you feel better."  
"Gar I don't think I can stay in your office 'til March."  
He laughed.

The next morning I could still feel the punch in my stomach muscles. I was twisting around trying to loosen them wondering, if I might be bleeding internally when Donna came in and shut the door.  
"What's wrong?" she asked, catching my contortions.  
"Nothing, I slept funny."  
"Caused by Garret punching you?"  
I opened my mouth to protest.  
"He told me. Are you okay?"  
"More or less. Better me than you."  
"He wouldn't hit me, and he feels awful about hitting you."  
Personally, I still think that Garret lost absolutely no sleep over the fact that he'd hit me but it wouldn't have solved anything to say so.  
"I take it you talked," I said instead.  
"Last night."  
"And?"  
"We're going to give it another try."  
"Good."  
"You and me, it wasn't meant to be was it?"  
I smiled at her gently.  
"Not like that, Donna. You and me like this, I think works pretty well. You're my best friend; nothing's going to change that, but as a couple? I'm ten years older. I'm you're boss and..."  
"And you're in love with Joey."  
I nodded, Joey's name hurting more than Garrett's punch  
"And you're in love with Garrett, so who are we kidding? Maybe we had to try it to figure it our. It would have been better if we'd tried it sooner before there were innocent parties who could be hit in the crossfire but now we know."  
"I guess if it took us being drunk in Nashville for anything to happen it wasn't really supposed to."  
"There are many fine establishments serving liquor in the state of Tennessee that might take umbrage but yeah I think you're right."  
Donna leaned over and kissed my cheek, "You make a good big brother."  
"Not in any definition I've ever seen. And exactly how much did McHugh tell you?"  
"That he hit you. That you love me like a sister and that you will risk fire, flood and locust to stop me dating Sam Seabourne."  
"Great."  
"How's Joey?"  
"Not speaking to me."  
"There was a picture of her in the most recent Fog City Weekly."  
"I saw."  
"She was still wearing her wedding band."  
I had noticed that. I had taken immeasurable joy from that photo. I had danced around my apartment punching the air after seeing it. And after the wave of euphoria had passed, I'd sat at the computer, opened the latest reply to one of my e-mails and considered punching a window.   
"It's probably stuck and she hasn't had time to cut it off."  
"She'll forgive you, Josh"  
"I don't think so."  
"If Garrett can forgive me..."  
"Donna, Garrett blames me for what happened. I blame me for what happened so it seems pretty reasonable that Joey should blame me."  
"That doesn't make it unforgivable and by the way I take responsibility for my part in it."  
I collapsed into my chair "Joey's gone and I don't think she's coming back. If I can change that fact believe me I will but currently her e-mails sound like she has the head of the Teamsters union handling her correspondence."  
"So she's pouring out her anger, that's good. It's therapeutic."  
"It's one sentence, Donna, for all I know she's programmed the computer to send it automatically. I hurt her; she hates me. End of story."   
Donna kissed the top of my head and rubbed my back  
"I'm sorry."  
"I know. Thanks"  
"You want a cup of coffee?"  
"Now you're bringing me coffee?"  
"Well I'm not sleeping with you anymore, you might as well get something out of the bargain."  
I laughed. For the first time in weeks, I actually laughed. I laughed 'til there were tears pouring down my cheeks.  
"What's up with him?" Toby asked, walking in behind Donna as she returned with my java.  
"Nothing, just a little healing laughter."  
"He's in hysterics and you're bringing him coffee," Toby observed. "I don't like this."  
"One more thing Josh, much as I appreciate you sending Garrett back my way, do you honestly think I'd have accepted a date with Sam?"  
Toby closed the door behind Donna.  
"S'up?" I asked him taking a sip of coffee and ignoring how much the laughing had aggravated my wounded stomach muscles.  
"Well I had come to ask if you'd looked over the speech for the Latin American summit but instead I think the time has come."  
" 'The Walrus said to talk of many things, of sailing ships and sealing wax and cabbage and kings.' Or something like that."  
"Close, try 'of Nashville and wedding bands and what exactly happened down there that has made your wife stop speaking to you?' "

 


	4. Gales of November, The 4

 

Disclaimers in Part 1

The Gales of November : Part 4  
By The Bondi Gargoyle  


"Well I had come to ask if you'd looked over the speech for the Latin American summit but instead I think the time has come."  
" 'The Walrus said to talk of many things, of sailing ships and sealing wax and cabbage and kings.' Or something like that."  
"Close, try 'of Nashville and wedding bands and what exactly happened down there that has made your wife stop speaking to you?' "

All around me people were shouting "Four more years! Four more years!" The President and Governor Mondre stood at the front of the stage, hands clasped and aloft, and the arena seemed to shake like thunder. I should have been happy. I'd stood in a similar position four years previous, in some similar arena and felt like I could fly. Now all I felt was empty. I looked across to the other side where a group of congressional candidates were gathered, Joey among them. She'd been given a good spot; where she stood, she'd be caught in the footage and photos of Mondre. Not too close though, not so close as to look like a favor to the wife of a man with the President's ear. Not that I had it much lately. He was mad at me. Not because of a policy screw up or any of the things a boss really has the right to be mad about. But because my marriage was on the rocks and sinking fast and I didn't seem to be doing anything about it.

"He feels responsible," Leo had tried to placate me. "Any time one of our personal lives takes a nose dive he feels like it's his fault."  
"Well it's obviously not."  
"He'll ease up eventually."

But he hadn't. I was beginning to suspect that Leo, in trying to fix things, might have told him what I had done. On the other hand, given not only his moral code but also his fondness for Joey, if he had known, he probably would have fired me.

I looked at Joey again. If she was aware of me, she gave no indication. It should have been our day. Between Mondre and Joey sewing up her primary, I should have been calling the hotel to put a bottle of their best champagne on ice. She smiled and waved to the crowd. A wave of pride and love washed over me and I'd never felt more miserable.

Then suddenly it was over and we were all in the tunnel heading for the cars. Candidates, staff members, secret service agents and uniform cops all crushed into the narrow alleyway. Somehow, I managed to find Joey's side. I touched her arm and she turned.  
"I need to talk to you," I signed. Kenny would know what I had said but no one else would.  
She didn't look too crazy about the idea but reluctantly she nodded and signed "Tonight."  
"I'll come to your room," I mouthed, then she allowed herself to be caught up in the current of the crowd and swept away.

It was late by the time I could get away, close to eleven, but Joey was still dressed when she answered the door.  
"Hi."   
She didn't answer. She just walked back into the room and left me to follow.  
"Congratulations on the Primary," I offered.  
"The Primary's the easy part."  
"You're telling me!" I grinned halfheartedly.   
Joey shook her head "Josh, is this what you came here to say?"  
"I'm stalling."  
"No kidding?"  
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. 'Here we go again,' I thought.  
"Joey, I need to tell you this but there is no way that my signing is up to it. I'll write it down if you don't want to lip-read but I want you to read it while I'm in the room."  
"You're out of practice." She pointed to my hands.  
"Yes."  
"Fine, talk, I'll lip-read."  
"I want to tell you why what happened, happened."  
"You had to much too drink and one thing led to another."  
I had never gotten far enough into an explanation to even mention alcohol so I suspected that Donna had been trying a fix-it job of her own. Unfortunately, there were a few crucial points that Donna was totally unaware of.  
"I wasn't drunk, I had less to drink than Donna thinks I did. I had less to drink than Donna."  
"So you knew what you were doing?"  
"Yes."  
My wife looked like I'd slapped her.  
"Are you in love with Donna?" Joey asked but she dropped her eyes so that she couldn't see my answer. I put my hand in her line of vision and fingerspelled 'no'.  
"Then what's going on?" At least she was looking at me again, even though it was in a mixture of hurt and anger.  
"I wanted to feel needed"  
"I don't understand"  
I reached for the pad and pen on the bedside table  
"No" Joey interjected frustrated, "I got the words, Josh, I just don't know what they're supposed to mean."  
"I wanted to feel needed," I repeated, unable to find another way of saying it, "and in the brief instant when I decided to go forward, I convinced myself that Donna needed me."  
"Unlike me?"  
"Yes."  
"And how exactly was I supposed to show you that I needed you? By not running for Congress, I suppose."  
"It's not about the campaign"  
"Really?"  
"No"  
"Because I've never got the sense that you were whole-heartedly behind the idea"  
"It's not the campaign, Joey, it's us. It's our whole screwed up relationship!"  
'Oh yeah, Lyman, that's definitely the language of reconciliation.'  
The anger was practically bubbling out of Joey, and let's just say that for a Quaker she'd make a great Southern Baptist.  
"If you wanted out of this marriage, why didn't you just file for divorce? Why did you have to put me through this?"  
"I don't want out of the marriage, if anything, I want in."  
"I wish you'd stop talking in riddles."  
"Joey, I don't even know why you married me. You don't let me in. You don't tell me how you're feeling. There are days when I feel like I know Kenny better than I do you."  
"That's ridiculous"  
"Is it? I married you for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in-"  
"Stop quoting wedding vows at me! Especially when you only stick to the ones that you like."  
"All you ever let me see is better, richer and in health."  
Joey rolled her eyes.  
"At least I kept them," she said sharply. "You kind of stumbled at 'forsaking all others...'"  
"Keeping them doesn't mean much if they're just words," I retorted.  
"When did I ever suggest that they were just words?" She looked surprised then scowled, "And if you've got it into your head to make me feel like it's my fault that you screwed around, you can leave right now."  
"Of course it's not your fault, I never said that."  
Said? No. Implied? Well that's something else. Watch now as Joshua Lyman, master politician, tries out that age-old theory, 'the best defense is a good offense'  
"I'm not saying it's your fault," I continued, "I'm just telling you what I was thinking"  
"What makes you think I care?"  
"I'm not sure that you do."  
We'd reached an impasse. Joey glanced at the door but I wasn't ready to walk away yet.  
"Joey, why did you marry me?"  
"Because you asked, or at least as close an approximation as you were going to manage."  
"Why did you say yes?"  
"What kind of question is that?"  
"One that I don't know the answer to"  
"You honestly don't know why I married you?" She looked doubtful as though this was a line I was spinning to get her to admit something that she didn't want to say.  
"Not really"  
"You don't think it could have something to do with being in love with you?"  
"Are you in love with me?"  
"I'm not real crazy about you at the moment."  
"Touché"  
"Josh, this is ridiculous."  
"Joey, I seriously don't know why you agreed to get married. We'd only been together for three months."  
"Some people know after three minutes"  
"You're telling me it was love at first sight?"  
"First sight? I came to Washington for a serious discussion; I got six verses of 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor?' What girl could resist that?"  
In spite of everything I smiled and so did she.  
"It was later," Joey continued, "when you gave me the coffee cup and told me that you'd picked out your suit just for me, that suit as a matter of fact."  
I absolutely did not put on that specific suit because I knew I would be seeing Joey. It's a summer weight suit and it looks good on me. I wore it for the cameras. Don't believe me? Me neither.  
"For me it was in the piano bar."  
"At the Mayflower?"  
"When you admitted that O'Dwyer was a jerk."  
"That's pretty close to first sight."  
"First sight plus twenty- four hours, minus a hang over."  
"If you felt it too, then why are you talking to me about three months?"  
"Because I don't trust it."  
"It or me?"  
"It. My luck. This, you, is not the kind of luck I have. The kind of luck I have is that we win the Illinois Primary, we finally start to get somewhere, and my father dies. My kind of luck is that in a shower of bullets, my friends walk away unscathed and I end up in fourteen hours of surgery. That's my kind of luck. Bad things happen in threes and I've been holding steady at two, waiting for the hammer to fall."  
"And what, you figured it couldn't last, so you slept with Donna to beat me to the punch?"  
"I don't think Donna's your type."  
"Don't! Damn it, don't start tossing around that dimpled grin and those smart-ass comments, Josh, they're not going to get you out of this."  
The smile evaporated from my face.  
"I didn't give it that much conscious thought," I said after a minute, "I didn't plan it out."  
"I wasn't suggesting that you did"  
"But I also didn't think that we'd still be married at the end of the next term"  
"Because of our whole screwed up relationship?"  
"That was an unfortunate choice of phrase"  
"Okay, because you don't think I need you. Need you to do what?"  
"I don't think that you trust me."  
"Well I wonder why?"  
"Even before that, before Nashville, and I'm not saying what happened in Nashville was your fault, but even before that you never let me in. Joey, you never even tell me when you've had a bad day."  
"Maybe because in the limited time we get to talk, and yes I know California was my choice, I don't feel like re-hashing what went wrong in my day."  
"So what do we talk about, the weather?"  
"Well we seemed to spend a lot of time talking about your work."  
"I wanted your advice."  
"Is that it? I don't ask your advice enough? By your own admission you're not a California expert."  
"It's not just work, Joey, it's everything. You're so strong, so independent-"  
"I've had to be! Don't you get that? The minute I lean on somebody, it becomes the deaf girl can't handle the pressure. "  
"I know. I know you've had to be twice as tough and three times as good as the rest of them, but not with me, Joey. Apart from anything else, the number of times that I've brought this administration knocking on your door surely proves the faith I have in you. But apart from that, I'm the one guy on the whole planet that you don't need to be tough with. I love you. Shouldn't that mean that the one day out of fifty that the press is driving you crazy, your staff appear to be re-writing the book on incompetence and the public are just downright ungrateful, I'm the one person that you can lean on? Isn't that what I'm here for? You never let me see the cracks, Joey. I don't know if you let anyone see them, Kenny maybe, but it sure isn't me."  
"You're jealous of Kenny?" Joey asked, incredulous.  
"I'm jealous that you let yourself rely on him."  
"I rely on him to communicate with the ninety-seven percent of the population who don't sign."  
"And what am I, other than part of the other three percent?"  
"Sometimes you're not even that." She was starting to cry. "You want to see the cracks, Josh? Okay. I have spent the last four months hating you. No one has ever hurt me as much as you did because I have never loved anyone as much as I loved you. Feel unique now?"  
I heard the past tense and it scared the hell out of me but my questions could wait. My wife, the woman I loved, was standing in the middle of a hotel room sobbing and it was my fault, my fault twice over to be accurate. Cautiously I reached for her, not sure if she'd even allow me to touch her. But as I put my arms around her, Joey slumped against me and buried her face in my neck. I walked backward and sat in a chair, lifting her up onto my lap. The A.S.L. sign for "I'm sorry" is a closed hand circled around the heart. As she cried, I put my right hand in between our bodies and repeated the sign over and over.  
After fifteen or twenty minutes, Joey got up and went and washed her face. When she returned she sat on the end of the bed and rested her forehead in her hands. Then she looked up at me.  
"I think we should get divorced."  
"No!" I was instantly on my feet and moving toward her.   
"You don't trust us, I don't let you in, what's left?"  
"Everything that was there in that piano bar and in the coffee cup and in this suit. Everything that made you let me in tonight and everything that made me want to come."  
"We still haven't dealt with your feelings for your assistant."  
"This is not about Donna"  
"Yes it is, Josh, because if you'd gone to Nashville with CJ, we wouldn't be here. There's always been something there. I would have asked you out much sooner, but I didn't want to get between you and Donna."  
"There was nothing to get between."  
"Obviously there was. In fact, it seems like there was enough there to make me wish I'd hesitated a little longer."  
"Okay," I said finally, linking my hands behind my neck and staring up at the ceiling  
"Okay what?" She nudged me with her foot to get me to look back at her.  
"Okay I did have feelings for Donna."   
"Uh-huh"  
"It was different than with us. It was safe and easy and I could go just so far and no further. But it was never love, at least not like this. "  
"No further physically?"  
"Emotionally."  
"By different do you mean preferable?"  
"No."  
"Safe and easy? Why wouldn't you want that?"  
"I want you."  
"Dangerous and difficult." She smiled briefly though it was tinged with sadness  
"Dangerous maybe, at least to my heart. What I feel for you scares me. I don't like being out of control and gawd knows I'm not running the table where we're concerned. But loving you, being in love with you, that's the easiest thing I've ever done." I brushed her cheek with my thumb "I don't want Donna. I want you, Joey."  
"You're sure? You're absolutely certain because I don't want to become one of those women who monitor their husband's every glance. And I like Donna too much to start getting into this with her."  
"I am dead certain. Does this mean we're getting back together?" I asked hopefully  
"I don't know, Josh."  
"Joey, we're worth a second try."  
"It's going to be hard, I'll be in Congress, you'll be in the White House"  
"The former is currently more assured than the latter."  
"It'll be hard."  
"True but I'm willing to work at it."  
"I don't know."  
She looked up at me questioningly, and for the first time, I knew what needed to be said.  
"I screwed up," I began. "I was selfish and I screwed up and you got hurt. And I am so sorry that I hurt you. I would give anything to take back that moment. Since I can't, I promise you that I will never put you through something like this again. I love you, I want you and instead of just telling you that you should rely on me I will do everything in my power to be the kind of man that you can rely on and can trust. But to do that, you have to give me another chance. Besides you still have my coffee cup."  
"It's in a thousand pieces, I threw it at the wall"  
"Take me back and I'll get you another one," I offered  
"Josh, I'm not going to vote for your bills unless I agree with them," Joey said suddenly  
Gawd I love this woman! It's not 'Josh, I won't wash your socks' or 'Josh, I'm not scrubbing the shower tiles', it's 'I won't vote for your bills unless I agree with them'. Is she perfect for me or what?  
"Josephine, I'm not trying to get you back so that I can exert more influence in Congress."  
"I just want you to understand that you'll have to win me over the same as everyone else."  
"Joey, you have more integrity than half those guys put together-"  
"And flattery is not the way to go about it."  
"I'm just stating the basic facts the way I see them. And should President Bartlet hold onto the White House, I promise never to take you or your vote for granted and I mean that in every sense."  
"I need to think about it" Joey said wearily.  
"Okay."  
"I'm not saying 'no' but I need to think about it"  
"I understand. Will you have breakfast with me tomorrow?"  
"Josh."  
"I'm not expecting an answer, I just want to spend some time with you"  
"Okay"  
"Good"  
I leaned over and kissed her. "I do love you, very much"  
"Thank you."  
As I was about to open the door, she spoke.   
"You still look damn good in that suit."  
"Thank you," I signed "I'll see you at seven"

 


	5. Gales of November, The 5

 

Disclaimers in Part 1

The Gales of November :Part 5  
By The Bondi Gargoyle

As I was about to open the door, she spoke.   
"You still look damn good in that suit."  
"Thank you," I signed "I'll see you at seven"

The slightest possibility that my execution might be stayed, let alone pardoned was enough to send me to cloud nine. I more or less floated back to my room. Where I found a message from Leo telling me that I already had breakfast plans, a meeting with the President and Governor Mondre. Joey would understand, of course, it was the nature of my job, but that didn't curb my sense of disappointment or desperation. I had a dark feeling that if Joey went back to the Bay Area without forgiving me, it wasn't going to happen at all. I had been counting on the chance to further plead my case over breakfast.   
I was trying to draft a letter that would say the things I wasn't going to be able to in person, when there was a knock on my door. I have the bad habit of opening hotel room doors without checking to see who's on the other side. It's left over from the last election and even getting shot has done nothing to cure me. So expecting Sam or Toby or some other member or the West Wing insomniacs club, I pulled the door off the latch and turned back to the task at hand.  
"What're you doing, Josh?"  
"I'm writing a letter to...you."  
Joey was leaning against the now closed door.  
"Hi," I croaked. "What's up?"  
"I've thought about it," she announced.  
"And?"  
"And I think we should have breakfast in bed."

  
I woke up with Joey spooned against me. I was holding her so tightly that my muscles were starting to cramp, but if she minded the iron cage of my arms, she gave no indication. One foot stroked my in-step and her fingers were drawing lazy patterns on my forearm.  
I loosened one hand and signed "Good morning, Beautiful" (one of the first things I'd had Kenny teach me).  
She rolled over, cupped my face in her palms and kissed me. Then she leaned her forehead against mine.  
"I miss this when you're not around."  
"Which this?"  
"Waking up in your arms."  
"Me too," I mouthed, pulling her, if possible, closer.  
"What's wrong?" she asked me.  
"Nothing."  
"Josh, it's in your eyes."  
I ducked my head so she couldn't see them but she simply moved 'til she could.   
"What?"  
"Joey, am I forgiven?"  
"Would I be here if you weren't?"  
"I need to see it, or hear it or..."  
"Josh, I forgive you"  
"Thank you"  
"This time."  
"There won't be a next time"  
"I know." She kissed me the propped herself up on one arm. "New rules"  
"About?"  
"This, us together"  
"Okay."  
"We're going to fight Josh, but I think that we should promise not to fight in here."  
"In hotel rooms?"  
"In bed. You are so obtuse sometimes"  
She had to spell 'obtuse'.  
"We get little enough time together like this, I don't think we should waste it with accusations and blame."  
"I don't disagree but were we fighting in bed before? Mostly I think we fight long distance."   
She groaned. I can be fairly annoying when I don't want to talk about something.  
. "Last night was pretty good," Joey purred, changing tack.  
"Just pretty good?" Masculine pride wins over the determination to avoid the subject.  
"Uh-huh but not your best work."  
"And what would bring it up to par, in your esteemed opinion?"  
"It would help if you stopped feeling guilty."  
"I will eventually." I protested   
"Not if you don't let it heal. Josh, I know that you love me. I don't want you to feel like you have to keep proving it. I came here last because I wanted to move on, and part of that means that I don't want there to be ghosts in here with us."  
"Okay."  
"Okay, stop talking about it or okay you'll accept that."  
"Kind of half way in between."  
She shook her head but laughed and kissed me all the same.  
"Also I've been thinking about something you said last night."  
"No Joey, forget everything I said other than the stuff that started with 'I screwed up'."  
"But you were partially right"  
"About that part I was completely right."  
"I don't let you in enough. I am too used to dealing with everything on my own."  
"That's okay"  
"It's not. Will you shut up? You had your turn last night."  
"Sorry."  
"So I will try harder to tell you what I'm feeling. In the meantime you should know that just because I don't cry on your shoulder does not mean that I don't take strength from you."  
"Yeah?"  
"I can't tell you how many times the only thing that kept me from firing my entire staff and running screaming from the room was the thought that if I could just make it through the day, I could take a bath and talk to you. I knew that you'd make me laugh and it would all be okay."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. It's been hard the last few months without that. I got used to you too quickly."  
"Think you could get used to me again?"  
"Probably."  
My attempts to convince her were interrupted by the phone.  
"What?" I barked into it.  
It was Donna.  
"It's six-thirty, you have breakfast with the President at seven"  
"I know that."  
"I want to make sure that you're awake. Are you?"  
"You're talking to me."  
"Are you awake because I called or were you awake anyway?"  
"Does it matter?"  
"Josh, you don't have to yell, I'm doing this for your benefit."  
"I doubt that."  
"He's already mad at you, don't make it worse by being late."  
"I'm hanging up now"  
"You'll thank me later"  
"I doubt that, too" But she'd already hung up on me

"What was that?" asked Joey  
"Donna reminding me that I have to eat breakfast with the lord and master in half an hour."  
"I thought you were eating breakfast with me?" she teased gently  
"There was message when I got back to the room. I was going to tell you earlier but I got distracted."  
"Distracted?"  
"Yeah."  
"By what?"  
"Well there was this beautiful woman in my bed..."  
"Hmm"  
"I'd rather stay with you."  
"I know"   
"When do you fly out? Can we have lunch instead of breakfast? Better yet. Stay here and I'll come back after breakfast."  
"Cause nothing's likely to come up at that meeting. Besides my flight's at ten."  
" I suppose it's pointless to beg you to come back to D.C. with me"  
"Not entirely, I'd enjoy seeing you beg but I have a dinner meeting in Oakland tonight"  
"Is he cute?"  
"Who?"  
"Whomever you're meeting with?"  
"The East Bay Women's Health Collective?"  
"Ah."  
Joey drew a hand down my chest, "I'll miss you"  
"Me too. We're in California for three days in October."  
"October's a long way off."  
"I know."  
We both looked at the clock  
"Could you be late?" Joey asked,   
"For what?"  
"Breakfast."  
"With the President?"  
She shrugged  
I met her eyes, "Definitely."

CJ called me at seven twenty-two. "Where are you?"  
"Pulling on my shoes and walking out the door."  
"Didn't you get Leo's message? He's ready to throttle you?"  
"You know I've always wondered what that's supposed to mean. Isn't a throttle what controls the speed of a train?"  
"Like the one he's going to hit you with? Where the hell are you?"  
"CJ, you called my room, where do you think I am?"  
"Josh!"  
"Joey," I answered quietly "I'm running late because of Joey"  
"Were you fighting?"  
"Not since last night."  
"But you were with her this morning?"  
"When did my private life become the domain of the Press secretary?"  
"Why didn't you just say so? Get your butt down here, I'll cover for you"  
They were well into breakfast when the Secret Service Agent let me in.  
"He doesn't look sick," the President observed after I'd made my apologies. I glanced at CJ whose chair I was standing beside.  
"I told them that you were running late because you were feeling fluey," she muttered.  
"You told him I was puking?"  
"Live with it."  
"I think he's the picture of health," Bartlet complained to Leo. "He's practically glowing."  
"Jed, let Josh sit down and eat his breakfast," Abbey instructed, interrupting her conversation with the Governor.  
"Josh isn't hungry, he's fluey," The President countered, indicating that I could take my seat.  
I was in fact ravenous but I had to content my self with coffee for the time being. I noticed both CJ and the First Lady slipping bagels into their respective bags and hoped that they might be for me.  
"So where were you?" Leo pulled me aside at the end of the meeting.   
"Making love to my wife," I replied, wondering if candor might work for a change.  
It rocked Leo back a bit then he smiled. "Don't make a habit of it."  
"Of m-"  
"Of being late because of it." He handed me a muffin.   
"Leo I need a favor."  
"You think you've earned one?"  
"I need to be in California on Election Day."  
"Out of the question."  
"Leo."  
"Josh, you're senior staff, the President expects you to be with him"  
"The President's sent me to coventry for the last four months because I wasn't taking care of my marriage. I am quite willing to get there via every marginal state if that's how you want to send me, I'll keep my cell phone super-glued to my head, but I want to be in California by the time polls close, Pacific Time."  
I could see him wavering  
"Win or lose, Joey's going to have to make a speech. She deserves to have her husband standing behind her when she does."  
"First flight back to Washington, Wednesday morning?"  
"First flight's at six am, how about the eight o' clock?"  
"Fine. You have this all figured out anyway, so go on. I suppose you're going to want an extra night in the Bay Area when we go out in October."  
"If that's workable."  
"Get out of my sight, Josh"  
"I'll take that as a yes"  
"Congratulations."

  


Leo did send me via about fifteen states but true to his promise I was standing inside the headquarters of "Joey Lucas for Congress" ten minutes before eight on Election Day.  
It was practically empty. Two staffers were setting out snacks on a long table but everyone else was gone.  
"Hi," I signed. "How's it going?" A contingent of Joey's staff members is deaf, besides I've been trying to get in the practice of signing and speaking simultaneously.  
"How you doing, Mr. Lyman?" One of them, a pimple faced boy in a Berkeley sweatshirt greeted me with a slightly awe-struck smile.  
"You know you can just call me Josh. Where's Joey?"  
"She was planning to stay out at the polling stations 'til they closed, " the other, a tall woman with closely cropped hair and a motorcycle jacket, replied regarding me with some suspicion. Either she didn't know who I was, or she was completely clear on exactly who I was.  
"Guess I'll wait."  
'Cause having just come through most of the lower forty-eight you were about to leave again?' I asked myself, shaking my head.  
"Results are going to be starting soon," the Berkeley kid said pointing at the multiple TV sets.   
"Heard anything on the net?" I understood the point of the blackout; it was just slightly pointless in this age of instant news.  
"We're winning in New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire."  
"New Hampshire, we were worried about New Hampshire." Actually as much as I was kidding, we'd dropped three points in New Hampshire in the last week which did worry me slightly "Where aren't we winning?"  
"The Carolinas, Alabama."  
"Virginia, Georgia?"  
"Could go either way"  
"Thanks."  
I settled myself on the couch, turned one set to CNN, one to MSNBC and the other to PBS then promptly fell asleep. In my own defense I'd been up for about thirty-six hours at that point on roughly three hours sleep. I didn't even hear the hordes come in.

I woke up with a start and realized that I had my head on Kenny's shoulder.  
"Sorry," I mumbled, checking my mouth to make sure that I wasn't drooling.  
"She said we should let you sleep," he informed me, in his usual cheerful Kenny way. Some days it makes me want to plaster a South Park sticker warning of his imminent death across his forehead, but most of the time I just see him as part of Joey. If Kenny's there, she can't be to far away. Today I had shaken so many unfamiliar hands, negotiated so many unfamiliar voices that his was almost comforting.  
"Where is she?"  
"Outside having a smoke"  
"Okay. Wait what?"  
Kenny chuckled  
"She quit a long time ago. She only started up again in the last week."  
"Out front?"  
"Uh-huh"  
Joey was there with two other women. All three were smoking and laughing  
"Oh sleeping beauty's awake," she teased when she saw me.  
"Yeah, well at least Kenny didn't kiss me."  
"No I did, not that it had any effect."  
"Call it a delayed result. Don't give me grief, Woman, I could be in Washington D.C. right now."  
"Getting plenty of sleep?"  
"What are they saying?"  
"You're about half way there at the moment."  
"Texas or Florida reported?" I yawned.  
"You didn't get Florida but Texas is looking good."  
"Texas?"  
"And Illinois."  
"And how are you doing?"  
"I'm kicking ass."  
"Good"  
I turned to her companions whose names I knew I was supposed to remember and didn't have a clue about.  
"Here's the thing, we haven't seen each other in about a month, so could you two make yourself scarce so we could kiss without me blushing?"  
"Sure, Honey. Just don't get yourself arrested," One, a large black woman who's name I thought might be Shirley, cackled with much amusement.  
After they'd gone back inside, I backed Joey up against the brick wall and leaned in very slowly. It had been a month I could stand to drag it out for a few more seconds. I brushed my lips against hers, intending to tease her, but it more or less backfired on me. One taste of her and I was hooked as always. I pressed my mouth to hers more deeply, reveling in the feel of her, her body against mine, her fingers digging into my back, my hands clutching her waist. I was a man in love and I didn't care who knew it, as long as one of those people was my wife.  
"So you missed me?" she asked as we parted  
"Once or twice." I pointed at the cigarette, "Can I have a drag?"  
She looked mildly surprised but handed it to me. I turned and flicked it across the street  
"Josh!"  
"Congratulations, you just quit. I'm at war with Big Tobacco and you've taken up smoking?"  
"It was a substitute."  
"For what?"  
"Sex."  
"So it's my fault?"  
"Uh-huh."  
I laughed, "Kenny said you only started again last week, what were you substituting the rest of the time?"  
"Jogging but I haven't had time"  
"Jogging or smoking, interesting choices there, Mrs. Lucas-Lyman."  
"You've haven't called that me since Las Vegas."  
"No I haven't. Listen, I've been thinking-"  
I was interrupted form a roar inside. I glanced at the doorway as Shirley stuck her head out.  
"Joey we're at a sixty-five to forty-eight majority with eighty-two percent reporting and Josh your guy's been awarded Texas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania."  
"Thanks"  
Shirley ducked back into the building and I turned to Joey.   
"Wow," I stared at her realizing she really was about to be a congresswoman  
"I haven't won yet  
"You must be getting close," I told her "Should we go back inside?"  
"Not yet. Josh, are you happy about this?"  
"I wish we had taken Florida but that was never really on the cards and Texas is an unexpected surprise, especially after our eight rounds with John Hoynes."  
She rolled her eyes skyward, shaking her head as she did  
"If we're talking about your campaign, you shouldn't even have to ask," I said seriously  
Joey leaned into me for a moment before she spoke, and even then she didn't look at me. "You've been more enthusiastic since the Convention but-"  
"Joey, I am one hundred percent in favor of you being in Congress" I held her slightly away from me, looking into her eyes to make sure she was getting it.  
"Even if you were to lose the White House?"  
"Especially if we lose the White House, 'cause then I'll be coming to you for a job." I grinned, "You don't look convinced. Jo, it was never the campaign. If I ever seemed reluctant for you to do this, it was only because I wished it were for a district in Virginia or Maryland, or even Pennsylvania, so that I wouldn't have to spend eleven months with you on the other side of the country."  
"So you're okay with it?"  
"Okay with it? Yeah, you could say I'm okay with it"  
"Because I won't be on the other side of the country any more."  
"No, I mean yes, that's a nice side benefit but it's not the main reason. Joey, as a member of the Democratic Party, I think you will bring an immeasurably good contribution to the halls of government. And as the guy who happens to be in love with you, I am, and I should have said this a long time ago, I am incredibly proud of you. I am looking forward to telling people that Congresswoman Lucas is my wife." I kissed her just to emphasize my point   
"Okay."   
"You actually doubted that I was behind you?"  
"Nah, I was just trying to make you feel needed" she quipped shaking her head, though we were both clear on the reality.  
"Nicely done." Part of loving someone was letting them off the hook. A fact that, as you can imagine, I'm quite clear on.  
"What were you starting to tell me, before Sherri came out."  
Sherri. Well I was close.  
"I think we should renew our vows. On our first anniversary, at the White House with your family and my family and Kenny and Donna and Leo and the President and all the important people present, we should get married, again. If we're going to start over, let's do it properly. In fact," I got down on one knee "Josephine will you do me the honor of giving me your hand in marriage?"  
"You don't think we should just live together?"  
"You're about to be a congresswoman I don't think you should leave yourself open to scandal."  
"Yes"  
"Yes?"  
"Yes, yes, yes"  
"Thank gawd."  
"You thought I might say no?" she asked as I gathered her in my arms.   
"It was always a possibility"  
"No it wasn't"  
We kissed and stood out there for another minute or two. But even in Northern California, November is cold. When I felt Joey shivering in my arms, I reluctantly insisted that we go back inside. An hour later Joey was declared the representative to Congress for the California 8th district and forty-five minutes after that I was on the phone with Leo as the President walked onto the White House balcony to speak to those who had gathered to celebrate his successful re-election.  
"So, "Sherri said, sitting beside me on a desk as we watched Joey give an interview, "that's the hard part over."  
I thought about it. We still had four years of trying to run the country, no mean feat even without re-election hanging over us. Plus, I was determined to make Anne-Marie Mondre the first Black female President in the history of the Republic. Then there was the fact that I was about to move in with a member of Congress.  
"Sherri, the hard part's just beginning," then I smiled, "but I get bored without a challenge."  
My wife waved me over; she had finished her interview. It was time to go home.


End file.
